After a 5 year struggle with anorexia (with purging tendencies), depression, self harm and over exercising I have now been recovered for 4 years and i use my blog to help others in the same situation i once was.
I am now a happy and positive person who wants to inspire those struggling to choose recovery and to take control over life and happiness again!

Life without Anorexia

My motto is 'Dont let the sadness of your past & the fear of your future ruin the happiness of your present'

My life at the moment is completely different to how it once was. I spent 5 years sick with anorexia nervosia and depression as well as struggling with self harm and overexercising. I spent 2 years in different treatment centres.

And since 2012 i have been declared healthy from my eating disorder.

I have been blogging for 7 years, and my whole journey is written in my posts. I now represent healthy and happiness. I want to show anyone struggling that it is possible to recover, no matter how hard it may seem.

I now blog about recovery, my life, veganism and positivity!

If you have any questions leave them in the comment section as i am much quicker at answering there, otherwise you can always send an email: lifewithoutanorexia@hotmail.com

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Monday, January 16, 2017

Your body is always using energy

A part of recovery for myself was realising that the body is always burning energy no matter what you are doing. I felt like I could only justify eating something - even if that something was still extremely little - if I had been active and done something physically. But also I felt like I could only justify and be somewhat ok eating chocolate or anything other than a safe food because I needed to gain weight. I thought, once I reached my goal weight I could never eat any of those "treat" foods again.

That was not the case. I.e i can still eat any types of food, but all foods in balance and moderation and it's the same for you. Food needs to be eaten everyday no matter what you do.

You may lay in bed sleeping all day but your body will still burn a whole lot of energy keeping you alive I. E your BMR which for most people is around 1200-1400 which is the energy amount your body used just to keep you alive. I.e energy to your organs so they can keep working. So even if you do absaloutly nothing you still need to eat. And then of course if you just do basic things like go to work/school, do the dishes, food shop, cook food, take out the rubbish all of that adds up and most people burn around 1800-2200 just by going about their day. Of course calorie requirement is so different for everyone, for example if you have been eating very restrictive your body will have adapted to that and won't expend as much energy doing things because it doesn't feel safe enough to do that. But also I don't want you to go about your day just thinking about burning calories or doing 110 things each day to burn more. I made that mistake in the past as well, I would constantly be doing things because I thought just sitting still wouldn't burn calories... but yes it does.

Of course this post can be taken in the wrong way, I don't want you to focus on burning calories or that every movement is thought of calories burnt. More that I want to make you aware that even if you do absaloutly nothing you still need to eat. And even if you don't need to gain weight you still need to eat. Everyone needs to eat. Of course different portions and different amounts based on many factors but you don't have to eat just salad and cucumber because you are a normal weight or because you haven't been active. Your body needs daily fuel.

I think following hunger and fullness is the best and that is what will lead to balance, for example Somedays you are more hungry and some days less but there is a long term balance. However if those signals aren't working as they should then sometimes you just need to make yourself eat even if you don't feel hungry just because your body needs energy!!!

You don't need to earn food. You don't need to compensate for not being active. You need to find a balance with food and most importantly change your thoughts regarding food and intake!!!

3 comments:

Great post Izzy!I was just wondering - have you learnt how to drive? I'm just curious, as you were suffering from anorexia when most people start learning (at least, here in Australia), and I've heard that heaps of people in Europe don't drive because of the public transport. (Public transport is a lot better for the environment anyway!)

Have you found you are less hungry since following the vegan diet? ie not wanting to eat so often because the amount of vegetables and fibre fill you up for longer? I have found this myself and was wondering if this was normal?

Hey, do you maybe have any of the food that you really don't like and it's vegan? Do you have any kind of food that you don't like because you had to eat in hospital very often? I for example started to hate apples because I had to eat it every day in hospital!!

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About Me

Hello :)
I have had Anorexia and depression for c.a 5 years and been in and out of hospital for 2 years. But now im living my life like a normal teenager, I still have my ups and downs now and again, but i still stay positive and never give up.
In my blog i write about my daily life, and my opinions and views on certain things and i bring up topics and information that i think needs to be passed on!!
Leave a comment - love reading comments from people :)
If anyone wants to get in contact with me.
Mail me here --> lifewithoutanorexia@hotmail.com